I don’t need motivation. I need NO EXCUSES.

The Biggest Loser is 100% right this season with NO EXCUSES. I started telling myself that to get running last year in February, and then I continued telling myself that to get out the door three times a week to train for my first 5K. My version is “There’s always an excuse when you need one.” And even to this day almost a year later, I fall victim to my excuses.

It happened yesterday. I woke up to 19 degree weather, 4 with the wind chill. And the snow was blowing in 30mph wind gusts. There are few people I know of in the world who would brave that kind of weather to get their miles in. There are even fewer people I know of in the world who would do that without fancy tech gear. It was more than easy to create my excuse for the day, nix the easy mile I had planned and go out for pizza and drinks in the evening (not that I regret the pizza and drinks!).

Then today rolled around, and I had my first “long” run of 2 miles on the Cap City Half Marathon beginner training plan to finish out the week. And the weather was slightly warmer – 21 degrees that felt like 10 with the wind chill. Ugh. The thing that got me out the door for it today was deciding I would let myself go out, get warmed up and then see how I felt in the brisk winter that seemed to have fallen on us overnight.

I’m glad I didn’t create an excuse today. I was feeling good out there and got 2.6 miles done. And it makes me feel bad that I managed to let an excuse like the cold prevent me from running my mile yesterday. I probably would have enjoyed myself out there. But that’s the thing. Excuses are easy! They’re easy to make, and usually they sound REALLY good. So it won’t be motivation that will get me through these frigid winter days. It’s going to be no excuses!

Otherwise, the first week of my half marathon training went well. I kind of thought when I registered that when I started training, the idea of 13 miles would terrify me. It hasn’t happened yet. I’ve been nothing but excited and looking forward to slowly building my mileage. The only thing I’ve done different from the training plan is an easy mile on my “rest” days. It helps me get out the door every day, and it certainly helps with not creating excuses – it is JUST a mile after all (and usually my legs thank me for it).

On to next week!